Hemmings Muscle Machines June 2018

“ Clearly, we were on our own if we wanted to get the body back together… ” I can still recall the feeling of hopelessness as I looked over my friend’s shoulder. He was spreading naval jelly across the corroded sheetmetal that made up the floor of the trunk in his ’69 Charger, in an effort to stave off further deterioration. But the optimism we’d held for the results were quickly dashed—the rust didn’t go away, it just changed color. In the mid-’80s in New York, rotten sheetmetal was a foregone conclusion for anyone who shared our compulsion to mess around with cars that were more than a decade old. We didn’t necessarily aim to limit ourselves to aged models—it was just that all the ones we liked…

EVEN THE KING HAS TO DOWNSIZE: PETTY SELLING PART OF HIS COLLECTION Sooner or later, even The King runs out of room for old race cars and memorabilia, which is why Richard Petty has turned to Julien’s Auctions for help in reducing the clutter. On May 12, Petty will be offering everything from drivers’ suits to a selection of vehicles at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Among the race cars to be offered is a 1974 Dodge Charger, a body style that carried The King to 31 victories from 1974-’77, including his fifth win in the Daytona 500. Julien’s is predicting a selling price between $400,000 and $600,000 for the Charger, one of Petty’s most recognizable car bodies, though in the absence of a specific…

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM Dan Reed • 610-655-5870 • www.danreedillustration.com$30 (print); $1,800 (original) Some artists have a singular style they use to render every subject, while others vary their style to suit a theme. Talented Pennsylvania native Dan Reed has earned serious recognition for his automotive artwork, along with the railroad scenes, architectural projects, and animals he is proficient in painting and drawing. When he’s celebrating classic cars, his tightly rendered paintings and pen-and-ink illustrations are incredibly realistic, but when he shifts gears to highlight hot rods, his style is a bit looser — more fun and fantasy than purely photographic. Take this piece, “Pit Stop;” it’s his evocative interpretation of a low, mean 1932 Ford powered by a hopped-up, Stromberg-topped Chrysler Hemi V-8, based on a genuine rod and…

It’s a dream most of us have, isn’t it? The gift of a brand-new car of our choice, free and clear. The gift of power, style, and speed. The gift of mobility. The gift of freedom. Now imagine that the parent providing this gift is an insurance adjuster, someone who has seen firsthand how insurance rates for teenagers driving muscle cars skyrocketed to the point where they helped drive the genre into a decades-long hibernation. V-8 engines, bright paint colors, snazzy wheels — these things seemed to inevitably lead to mischief, theft, crashes, loss. Whether a decades-distant observer or a kid who’s in the thick of the decision-making process back in the day, it’s easy to see things going in one of two unhappy directions—your name on the title of…

I love the sound of the Mach 1 name. In 1973, about the only name that elicited more testosterone was “Corvette”! But, 112,000 miles later, I’m still totally in love with my car, which I’ve kept stock (save for a brief encounter with American Racing Vector wheels in the late ’70s). With the exception of the split in the seat and the speakers on the parcel shelf, the interior is as it left the Ford Rouge assembly plant. What a tribute to Ford Motor Company — and an enduring memory of my dad!…

One of the best-styled American performance cars from the early 1970s was the second-generation Camaro. From its Ferrari-inspired egg-crate grille pointing forward in a very prominent form, to the short, sloping fastback-shaped rear that makes the car look like it’s at speed even when it is standing still, the Camaro, courtesy of the stylists at Chevrolet, has one of the most inspiring sporty exterior designs that has ever been applied to a mass-produced automobile. Their combination of menacing good looks and encouraging road-handling characteristics made them coveted by Chevy and muscle-car fans everywhere; even sports-car guys lusted after them. During those first four years of the second-generation model’s production, buyers snapped up 404,933 Camaros. The Z28 was always the ultimate iteration, with some 27,744 having been built during the 1970-’73…